'Fire and Ice' concept art for Robert Rodriguez's film adaptation -- EXCLUSIVE

Muscular heroes, seductive heroines and revolting monsters and villains — this is how the late artist Frank Frazetta helped define the sci-fi/fantasy genre with his paintings for the covers of pulp fiction books, movie posters and eventually his own stories.

At Comic-Con, director Robert Rodriguez announced plans to create a live-action film of Fire and Ice, based on the work of Frazetta, who died last year at age 82. The artist’s work previously inspired an animated version of the story in 1983, directed by Ralph Bakshi (The Lord of the Rings, the 1960s Spider-Man TV cartoon). That Fire and Ice is beloved among fantasy aficionados and grown-up kids of the 1980s, but has largely fallen out of the pop-culture consciousness.

Much like his partnership with another famous Frank — i.e., Frank Miller, whose Sin City books inspired that 2005 neo-noir thriller — Rodriguez intends to join his work with Frazetta’s style to bring to life the sword-and-sorcery story of survivors in a land destroyed by a mystical ice age.

“I want it to look like you just stepped into one of his paintings, where you get to see his world, and how he saw people, anatomy, and composition and color,” Rodriguez told EW. “It will feel like it’s real, but not real. It’ll be his reality. He saw things differently. He painted from his imagination. He didn’t take a photograph and just paint it.” Check out our exclusive look at the concept art for the movie below.

These Fire and Ice images were created by Rodriguez and his team at Quick Draw Entertainment, which is producing the film. Here’s the official synopsis for the movie, which Rodriguez aims to start in early 2012:

From his stronghold in Ice Peak, the evil Nekron sends forth a wave of deadly glaciers, forcing humanity to retreat to Fire Keep, a kingdom ruled by a generous king. When King Jarol’s daughter Teegra is kidnapped, young warrior Larn teams with the mysterious and legendary Dark Wolf, to rescue the princess and the realm from Nekron’s evil sorcery.

Click each image to enlarge:

Larn and Teegra, striking a pose on a rocky peak. (Either that or its a He-Man and Slave Leia heading home from Comic-Con.)

Dark Wolf battles an army of Nekron’s sub-human creatures on another peak. (Man, this world sure has pointy terrain.)

Princess Teegra, hanging out at home with her pets. She’s kind of a cat-lady, I’d say.